Valentine's Day is CHD Awareness Day

We try to make Valentines Day special just because its also Congenital Heart Defect Awareness day.  We want all the kids to know that Ivy is a survivor, and that we are blessed to have her here.  But this year we didn't have to make any special plans for it because Ivy raises awareness everyday.

"Did you even know I have a special heart?"

That is something that Ivy asks people.  Seriously. She has asked both Scott and I that question before as well as anyone she has regular contact with.  We're like, "Uh, yeah, we definitely know."

I guess it's good that she likes to tell people.  She's not ashamed, she's proud.  She knows she's special.  Since moving to Utah, it's not something we announced to our ward.  We just started going to church and never said anything, but next thing I knew, they knew and started asking me questions.  Ivy told them.

We planned on doing something special, but honestly, we forgot.  That's right.  It's been 5 years since Ivy came into this world and rocked it.  It's been 1 1/2 years since her last surgery.  It's been a few months since her last Echo-cardiogram.  Ivy's special heart isn't something we think about everyday anymore.  We just try to live life and be normal.  It's not that we forget how blessed we are, or that we forget that her heart is special.  We just don't have to think about it every day because she is so normal.    We are trying not to take this normal part of her life for granted, because we remember how hard it was for the first year, but its hard because we just have normal stuff going on.  We aren't overwhelmed by doctors appointments, physical therapy, feeding tubes, oxygen, or oral aversions.  We are overwhelmed by having so many kids, making them eat vegetables, getting to school on time, keeping fighting to a minimum, and keeping the house clean.  The same things everybody else gets overwhelmed by.

I consider this a victory.  It feels fantastic to be normal. 

 So instead of celebrating Ivy's victory over her special heart, we did what everyone else does on February 14th, celebrated Valentines day (we remembered CHD awareness day a few days before, but by the time it came around, it slipped our minds).  We made homemade Valentine's for the kids classmates, and for the first time made Valentine Boxes (their school in Boise didn't do Valentine boxes).  It ended up being a whole lot of work, but everything turned out so cute and fun, and the kids loved it all.

The boys' "Have a SUPER Valentine's Day!" Valentines.

And Ivy's "I'm buggy over you!" valentines.

Ivy's Hello Kitty Box

Corbin's Finn box, and Dexter's B-MO box.

I also put hearts on all of the kids bedroom doors that said nice things about them, and gave them each a little bit of chocolate.  And Scott and I were able to go out for the first time in years while Grandma Marde babysat the kids.  It was a nice day!  It really is nice to be normal.